Baby Witnesses a Series of Blunders on the 21-Hayes 09.30.10
Photo by arlen
On Tuesday at about 5 p.m. my 19-month old daughter and I boarded the 21-Hayes inbound for our trip home from daycare. We took seats up front in the handicapped section; the bus was fairly empty so I let my daughter have her own seat rather than keeping her on my lap. Sitting directly across from us was a surly, obviously drunk man. He was issuing a stream of salacious comments in the direction of woman who had taken a nearby seat, to the tune of, “You’re a fuckin’ skinny bitch but you have a big BUTT!” After a few minutes of that she replied, “Asshole!” and moved to the back of the bus.
Now my daughter and I were the closest targets. He looked straight at my daughter and said, “Well you’re a pretty little baby! You look just like my…GRANDDAUGHTER! Want to see a picture?!” He pulled out a cell phone, poked some buttons, then leaned across the aisle to show us a photo of a baby girl (cute, actually).
At that moment the bus was headed up the steep bit of Hayes near Alamo Square. The drunk man lost his balance and rolled about 6 feet down the aisle toward the back of the bus. He landed pretty hard on a row of seats and shouted, “OWWW! I broke a rib!”
The bus came to a halt in the middle of the street, passengers started screaming, some people got up to help the guy – pandemonium. The doors were open so I decided it would be a good time to exit. My daughter, who is just learning to talk, told me, “Ride bus. Man fall down. He owwie.”
Indeed.
Be like June, and share your Muni stories here on Muni Diaries.
Clipper’s Revenge 09.29.10
The video won’t make any sense if you don’t have audio on. Turn on your audio, but maybe not too loud. And consider yourself warned.
Cool ride on a hot bus 09.29.10
Photo by Anna L Conti
People made room for a wheelchair passenger without the usual grumbling. A middle-aged man flirted with a sleepy 2-year-old. Someone else made sure a tourist got out at the right stop: they wanted Hayes, not Haight.
My first seatmate was a woman wearing all white, with big dark sunglasses. We didn’t know each other, but that didn’t keep her from starting a conversation with me. She had a soft voice and told me about her boyfriend, who had been crabby that morning. “I told him I’d go do my thing and talk to him later,” she said. “Because I don’t need that.”
Her phone rang and it was her boyfriend, apologizing.
“He realizes what he did,” she said when she hung up. “And that’s a good thing.” She got out at Mission.
My new seatmate sat down and took a fan out of her purse. It was one of those black metal fans that unfolds and hooks together at the bottom. ”Wow,” I said. “I wish I’d thought of that.” She smiled and fanned herself vigorously, and I appreciated the churned-up air that wafted in my direction.
24-Divisadero Birthday Party 09.28.10
What a gem of a submitted post to return back to. I mean, seriously, someone celebrating their own or someone else’s birthday with cardboard numbers of their bus line, adorned with “We <3 the bus.” Paul shares:
I spotted this little gem while I was waiting for the 24 at the corner of Divis and Oak. I think it was someone’s 24th birthday — but they thoughtfully paid tribute to their neighborhood bus as well.
You know what I love? San Francisco. As wonderful as my honeymoon was, it’s good to be back.
Photo Diary: Service Animals Only 09.27.10
Photo by eric_harvieux
We found this photo via our Flickr pool. Won’t you join us?
Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Muniverse 09.27.10
Our reviewers liked the “clean and professional” interface of Muniverse and said that the app was easy and intuitive to use. “Muniverse loads fast and has a clean, visually organized interface,” reviewer Kaylene says.
Muniverse has a list of most major Muni Metro stations and stops, and you can toggle to see all inbound and outbound arrival times. Our reviewers said that they love the Favorites feature. Kaylene liked that “all the stops I use daily are displayed together for easy planning. I love that the times are shown on the Favorites list.”
Reviewer John liked the Favorites feature because it shows “comparisons of different (but nearby) stops.” When he was at the Forest Hill station last week, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to quickly catch a 43-Masonic if he exited the station. He used Muniverse to figure out that he should continue underground and use the quickest line – in this case, the 19 – to take him to the north side of the city. “I have a lot of stops I frequently use near home and work but also have some alternative options. Cable Car or 1? 10 or 41?” He liked using Muniverse to cross-reference and do a quick comparison of which bus would be the fastest.
But John reported that the Favorite screen would sometimes crash the app when it was forced to display the arrival times for many stops at once.
Our reviewers pointed out more improvements that they’d like to see. Kaylene reported that Muniverse displays “Fetching…” on the screen even when there is nothing to fetch. She’d also like to see shortcuts that take you from the Favorites list to the stops list for a favorite line.
Reviewer Carina says that Muniverse only shows two upcoming arrival times per stop and she’d like to see more upcoming arrival times.
On reviewer Andrew’s wishlist is a “Near Me” button that shows all routes in any direction within a few blocks of the current location. “Often if you’re walking around SF you would like to know if there’s a bus nearby, and when it will arrive, but you don’t know what line it is,” Andrew says. He said that in all the current apps as well as NextBus, you’d need to know the line and direction before you can search for a stop.
If you’d like to try out app yourself, download the Muniverse app at the Apple Store.
Weekend Photo: The Masses 09.24.10
Photo by David Lytle
In Muni news this week:
- Do You Have to Tag Your Clipper Card If You Have a Monthly Pass? (SFAppeal)
- Wear and Tear of Muni Buses – a word with John Haley (Spot.us)
- Muni approval rate drops. (Bay Citizen/Bay City News Service)
- Nat Ford on D.C. Metro’s list of potential leaders is no surprise to Muni insiders. (SFWeekly). Nat Ford said D.C. approached him, not the other way around. (SFAppeal)
- Muni working to stop free rides from Clipper card gate glitch. (KTVU and KGO)
- The latest on the Central Subway project – it could open in 2018 (SFAppeal)
- Bad Clocks Leave Clipper Cards Double Dipping, Registering Transfers As New Fares (SFAppeal)
- Muni Passenger Battles With Robber Over Stolen $10 (SFWeekly)
Lots of travel advisories this weekend due to various events, including Critical Mass tonight. Other events with transit impact:
- Transbay Terminal Construction, from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday, construction at the Transbay Terminal will require the closure of Beale Street between Mission and Howard streets. Affected Muni routes: 5 Fulton, 14L Mission, and 71 Haight-Noriega
- On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the Polk Street Blues Festival will be held on Polk Street between Union and Pacific streets. The 19 Polk Muni route will be affected.
- Folsom Street Fair, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Affected Muni routes:9 San Bruno, 12 Folsom-Pacific, 19 Polk, and 47 Van Ness
- Cole Valley Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Affected Muni routes: 6 Parnassus, 37 Corbett, 43 Masonic, and N Judah
- Portola Festival on San Bruno Avenue between Felton and Bacon streets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Affected Muni routes: 9 San Bruno, 8x Bayshore Express, 54 Felton.
Sunday:
Have you marked your calendars for the next Muni Diaries Live! on Friday, Oct. 29, at the Make-Out Room? If you haven’t, permanent marker this in your calendars now because we’ve got a lot of fun surprises in the bag for you!
Enjoy your weekend and these photos.
Photo by juicyrai
Photo by Kevin
Photo by niallkennedy
Photo by the jof
Photo by Troy Holden
Photo Diary: Muni Stowaway 09.23.10
See something on Muni that made you smile? Share it here, in our Flickr pool, or alert us on Twitter @munidiaries!
Ride Muni like a boss. Our Fast Pass Clipper card holders and Muni Diaries T-shirts are all on sale 
